Machines such as, for example, on and off-highway haul trucks, and other types of heavy equipment are used to perform a variety of tasks. Some of these tasks involve traveling between two or more locations. This traveling can include traversing one of many possible paths, each path including certain roadways. These roadways may be rendered unpredictable by weather conditions, usage patterns, machine load losses, natural disasters, tectonic shifts, mud slides, rock slides, and/or other deteriorative events and/or processes. Roadways that are rendered unpredictable may have unpredictable portions, which may include, for example, ice, mud, sand, loose gravel, or standing water. These unpredictable portions may increase time and/or costs associated with traveling between the two or more locations. For example, a machine may traverse a portion of a roadway, find that the roadway includes standing water, and be re-routed along another one of the possible paths. This re-routing may increase time and/or costs associated with traveling between the two or more locations. The unpredictable portions may also disable the machine. For example, the machine may slip, get stuck, deplete its energy (e.g., fuel or electric charge), crash, or otherwise be disabled by the unpredictable portions.
One way to minimize the effect of unpredictable portions of roadways is to facilitate communications between machines and/or remote offices regarding the unpredictable portions. An example of facilitating communications between machines and/or remote offices is described in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2004/0122580 (the '580 publication) by Sorrells published on Jun. 24, 2004. The '580 publication describes a control module, which determines if a machine is operating on a road having an adverse road condition. Adverse road conditions include soft underfoot conditions, steep grades, and potholes. Additionally, the '580 publication describes updating a site map stored in the control module or a remote office to show the adverse road condition. The '580 publication also describes using the control module or the remote office to notify an operator of the machine that the machine is approaching the adverse road condition. Additionally, the '580 publication describes using the control module or the remote office to dispatch a machine to the location of the adverse road condition for the purpose of correcting the adverse road condition.
The '580 publication addresses neither unpredictable portions of roadways that cause machines to experience slippage conditions (hereafter “slippage condition portions”) nor the problems associated with slippage condition portions. As used herein, a slippage condition is an event that is objectively detected through analysis of sensed parameters. For example, a slippage condition portion may cause a slippage condition that may or may not affect a heading and/or location of a machine. Specifically, the machine may fishtail, irregularly accelerate (accelerate slower than expected), or irregularly decelerate (decelerate slower than expected). Alternatively or additionally, a slippage condition portion may cause a slippage condition that causes one or more traction devices of a machine to rotate irregularly (faster or slower than expected).
The present disclosure is directed to overcoming one or more of the problems set forth above and/or other problems in the art.